Once a Journalist

Togo journalist

  • Once a priest, always a priest; once a mason, always a mason; but once a journalist, always and forever a journalist.” – Rudyard Kipling

Journalism Day today which reminded me of the earliest roots to Maldives Complete…my lifelong avocation in journalistic writing. I embarked on a life of “journalism” in elementary school penning a weekly newsletter for the youth programme at church called “Juice Man”. I then started and edited my high school’s first page in the local paper (the “Ramblin’ Clam” in the Ipswich Chronicle). My first “professional” journalism gig was as an overseas correspondent focusing on travel writing about the West African country of Togo. The Maldives Complete’s interactive database stems from my similarly long technology, but the now 2400+ article blog stems from this life of reporting intriguing stories about intriguing places.

Best of the Maldives: Largest Floating Solar Array – Taj Exotica

Taj Exotica - solar array

The best places in the world for solar are power are those with (a) lots of sunshine, and (b) significant expanses of space to collect those sun rays. While the “Sunny Side of Life” has plenty of the former, this island archipelago has notoriously little of the latter. On land that is. But Taj Exotica has taken advantage of the destination’s largest resource – the ocean – in order to reduce carbon footprint to help save that self-same ocean.

  • “The SolarSea system, coupled with a battery storage solution, allows the resort to run entirely on renewable energy during daylight hours. This eco-friendly approach translates to a reduction of approximately 475,000 liters of diesel consumption annually, along with a decrease of 1,200 tons in carbon footprint.”

Best of the Maldives: Water Villa Solar Panels – SO Maldives Patina / Ritz Maldives

SO Maldives - solar water villa panels

The Maldives has long been pioneering sustainability with ambitious use of solar power, and now SO Maldives, The Patine and Ritz Carlton Maldives (thanks Paola) have set a new high water mark over the water installing solar panels on the roofs of every single one of their water villas. Top move.